Thorburn: Young Buffs don't appear to be the problem

The coaches parking lot at the Dal Ward Center is full of cars from sunrise until the midnight oil is burning.

The embattled Colorado staff is leaving no piece of film unwatched as the group attempts to turn an alarmingly bad season around.

Jon Embree understands the fans are upset and the headlines are unflattering.

As they should be.

The Buffs followed up losses to underdogs Colorado State and Sacramento State with a 69-14 drubbing at Fresno State that wasn't as competitive as that score might indicate.

The 0-3 record feels like it's headed for 0-12.

Despite all of the noise outside the program, Embree said when he does leave the office at night he goes home and sleeps soundly.

The second-year head coach still believes in his long-term plan and that the Buffs will be back with a vengeance when the sophomores and freshmen are upperclassmen in 2014.

"I don't worry about those guys, I really don't," Embree said during Tuesday's media luncheon at the Millennium Harvest House in Boulder. "Because I know it's important to them. It's an impressive group. There's a lot of talent with those kids and a lot of competitiveness and want-to. That spreads to some other guys."

There doesn't seem to be a trickle-up effect. Many of the veteran players are either hurt or hurting the team with costly mistakes.

Last season the Buffs struggled to a 3-10 record despite having 28 seniors on the roster. Embree is worried that upperclassmen are still accepting losing as a way of life at CU.

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"It's more the older guys," Embree said. "This is the hand they've had for four years, five years. Those guys are my biggest concern."

Fifth-year seniors Ryan Dannewitz, Jon Major, Will Pericak, Ray Polk and Doug Rippy have experienced the agony of 36 defeats since joining the program with nine games still to play.

All of the juniors and seniors were around for the ugly end to the previous regime -- a five-game skid that included the last-straw collapse at Kansas in 2010.

The 2011 trend of losing close games to beatable teams (Cal, Washington State) continued this year against the rebuilding Rams (22-17) and FCS Hornets (30-28).

And the blowout at Fresno State was even worse than last season's lopsided losses to Stanford (48-7), Washington (52-24), Oregon (45-2), Arizona State (48-14) and USC (42-17).

Here the Buffs go again? The body language before, during and after these games screams yes as loud as the one-sided scoreboard.

"The here-we-go-again is more of going into a game and already having guys' heads down," junior left tackle David Bakhtiari said. "That's just something that you don't want to have happen. Having a game get out of hand so early like the Fresno State game ... it's hard for an offense to establish what we like to do, which is a run game, when we have to go straight to passing.

"I'm not putting anything on the defense. Offense, we have to manage the ball better, be more consistent. The only thing I think we're consistent with on offense is being inconsistent."

This week Embree will meet with every player on the team individually for 10 minutes. There was a sign-up sheet to coordinate these therapy sessions.

Embree said all 18 of the players who have played in five or fewer games at the college level (mostly freshmen with just three games under their belts) were among the first to make their appointments.

"There's a guy in the room that reminded me when I was a young player how resilient you are when you're young," Embree said. "I think that's why going through these meetings with these guys about their resolve and how they're going to make it right is important.

"And it's going to turn."

Meanwhile, Bill McCartney took over the room. The legendary former CU coach delivered a rousing speech that had the frustrated boosters in attendance smiling as they exited.

Mac still has Embree's back.

"After what they've been through, this guy's not flinching," McCartney said. "That's how you recognize a leader."

Embree pointed to Marques Mosley as an example of a young leader already proving that the future of CU football has not been entrusted to the timid or the weak.

The true freshman defensive back suffered a sprained MCL early in the Fresno State game and kept playing. At halftime, the knee stiffened and his night was over.

Only it wasn't.

"He went back out there and he wasn't supposed to be out there. So I had to call a timeout and get him off the field," Embree said of Mosley. "And he was crying. He was upset. Because it's important to him."

There are other players who are as passionate about being Buffs as Mosley. Eventually they're going to turn this around.

At least that's the dream at the head coach's house.

"That helps you sleep at night," Embree said. "Because you know when they get a little bit older, look out."

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